Presenting ze “Coffee Croissant”

Reader Aaron of Hewn Bakery in Evanston, Illinois (a near-north suburb of Chicago) writes to say that he and his team have invented a new coffee croissant, created by infusing the détrempte with concentrated coffee. He was kind enough to invite me up to try one if I was still in Chicago and I certainly would if I wasn’t already sick with flu in Louisville. They’ll be debuting the new croissants this Wednesday. They were planning on tomorrow, but from what I understand Evanston, like Chicago, is presently encased in a single solid block of ice.

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Shakespeare in the Bush

When you’re laying around sick you don’t have a lot of energy for intense reading, and laughter makes great medicine (though rather poor cough syrup). I delighted in this little jewel of writing today, and thought you might too. It’s been standard reading in anthropology departments since it was published in 1966, mostly for what it says about communicating between cultures, but surely also for its charm and hilarity. I’m surprised I’ve never run across it before. You only need to know the bare outline of the plot of Hamlet to get the jokes. If not there’s always Dr. Sparky Sweets. Just remember that Laertes is the son of Polonius (and brother of Ophelia) who gets sent away at the beginning of the play. Also Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the “age mates” who try to pump Hamlet for information early on, then later accompany Hamlet to England, bringing with them a sealed letter from Claudius that instructs the King of England to execute Hamlet immediately.

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Next Up: Kugelhopf

Since most of us still have a pile of rich sweets, candies and chocolates to deal with at home, it seems something a bit less indulgent is the way to go this week. And anyway, my kugelhopf pan hasn’t been getting enough use!

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Flu!

We returned from Chicago on Thursday and by Friday afternoon I had a fever of 102. I’ve improved since then, though you really don’t get over the flu in a day or two. It generally takes a week. I can console myself in that I don’t live in a Dickens novel, where people who get […]

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Thanks, PBS!

What a delight to discover, mid-way through my mid-winter break, that Joe Pastry made this year’s PBS top ten food blogs list! Quite a compliment considering all fabulous blogs PBS named. I’m in formidable company and I have to say it feels good! Thanks, PBS, I’ll do my best to live up to the honor in 2014!

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Back in Sweet Home Chicago

The high temperature will be 7 tomorrow. Italian beef sandwiches are served piping hot and sopping wet, and thin crust pizzas are sliced cross-ways into squares. People drive 60 miles and hour ten feet from each other’s bumper down the highway and three cars turn left at the tail end of every yellow light. Is […]

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Making Butter Spritz Cookies

The butter spritz is a grandma mainstay. Simple, rich, lightly sweet and crumbly, two or three and a pot of tea will see you through an entire afternoon of family gab. This stiff dough is commonly used in cookie presses or “spritz guns”. I learned to make them with a pastry bag and tip, so that’s what I’m going to do. The shapes take me back to neighborhood bakeries in Chicago.

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So what is “sugar bloom” then?

Another good question from reader Alicia. Sugar bloom is a different phenomenon, familiar to anyone who’s refrigerated or frozen chocolate for any period of time. Sugar bloom happens when moisture contacts the surface of solid chocolate. When that happens the sugar near the surface of the chocolate dissolves into the water and becomes syrup. In time the water evaporates leaving sugar crystals behind.

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